Oppositions to Public Campaign Financing

12/05/2013 03:02 PM

12/05/2013 05:21 PM

Unshackle Upstate is speaking out against the idea to have publicly financed elections for New York State offices.

Unshackle Upstate is speaking out against the idea to have publicly financed elections for New York State offices. Just this week, the Moreland Commission, which was created by Governor Andrew Cuomo in July to investigate public corruption, recommended that New York State look at providing public financing for office seekers, similar to what is in place in New York City.

Brian Sampson, who is the Executive Director of Unshackle, says the idea to have taxpayers help politicians run for office is ridiculous. Sampson says public financing for City Council and the Mayor's race in New York City hasn't ended corruption there and it doesn't give more transparency. He adds that taxpayers could also help fund robo-calls, TV ads and mailers for candidates that they philosophically disagree with.

"It's a complete waste of taxpayer money. When you think about all the things that we need to do here in New York State to improve, whether it be our roads, bridges, our education system, our municipal governments. There's so much we need to do, to try to put a 6 to 1 match in place to use taxpayer money to fund what is effectively welfare for politicians is just an inappropriate use of taxpayer money and should be completely avoided," said Sampson.

Sampson says it's estimated that public financing could cost between $100 million and $400 million per election cycle. He also believes it's unconstitutional.

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